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Thursday, April 10, 2014

REVEALING THE BEACH COTTAGE REAR WALL

Hey there. We're baaaaack!

Can you believe that it's been 18 months since we purchased this beautiful little 1850s bluestone cottage located in the cutest little town on the south-west coast of Victoria, Australia? Most of last year was spent renovating the Port Fairy cottage, and the later part of the year and this year has been purely dedicated to the extension (read concrete foundation, framework, plumbing...) Oh, how rewarding it's been so far, rediscovering the beauty that has been hidden for the past 50 (or so) years.

This post is all about the rear wall of the cottage, and in order to appreciate where it is now (photo above), it's good to see
what it looked like when we first saw it. Are you ready?

When we first bought this little cottage, the rear wall was covered by the
lean-to which contained the cottage's original kitchen (left), bathroom
(right), laundry (behind the bathroom) and toilet (behind the kitchen), let's
not forget the indoor/outdoor gutters. (And yes, we've been hiding that lovely
louvre window until now!)

Now that the kitchen is in
the original cottage, we decided that the old kitchen space would make a
great back entry with an outdoor shower, and a European Laundry on the inside (photos
to come). The morning sun comes into where this beautiful wall lies, and so it
will be a sun room, or a second living space (photos also to come).

If you're interested in the details, here is how it was done:

The lean-to was completely removed to make way for the
concrete slab.

Once the concrete slab was laid, and the framework up, the lime wash and paint was chipped away from the rear wall
using a chisel, hammer and some scrapers (this took about a week, and a few
helpers too).

Each stone was scrubbed with a wire brush to remove the
leftover lime wash. Some was kept for a little effect that we quite liked.

The oldlime mortar
between the stones was crumbling so we scraped it out and re-pointed the wall.

New mortar was mixed and placed between the gaps. The
collapsed stonework was repaired, and the mortar trimmed.

Any mortar that wasn't quite removed from the edges of the
stones at the above stage, was scraped again. The whole wall was scrubbed with
an acid solution and then rinsed with water.

The walls were painted with three coats of FeastWatson
Paving & Sandstone Sealer.

The hearth was painted with two coats of FeastWatson Slate
& Pebble Sealer.

The louvre window was take out and replaced with a second hand window that suits the era a little better. It was sanded, and then painted using a 3 in 1 undercoat, then British Paints H20 Enamel in Dulux Antique White USA.

This job was as biggie. I think that for a month (between other jobs) I just
chipped. Friends came to stay. They chipped too. But here we are - starting to do the finishing bits. It's really so exciting now.